Sunday, July 25, 2010

Does Writing Wreck Your Sleep?

Some days just don’t work out and some nights don’t either.

This week I had one night I just could not sleep. I was in the bed three times, in the chair three times, drank milk, ate a spoon full of peanut butter, used a heat pad for restless legs, and finally about 3:30 am got to doze a little. But I was awake again by 6:30 so I gave up and went outside to reload the deck of pots, flowers, chairs, and bird baths. We had unloaded all of the same the day before and put a coat of sealer on the wood deck. At 100 degrees, it was certainly hot enough to dry well and fast!

I was not in pain that night, just wide awake and why? Well it could be caffeine which does cause old folks some issues. But I have given up a lot of caffeine in various forms, at least after 2:00 in the afternoon. One bothersome thing that night was some writing issues kept racing through my head. I had several contests I wanted to enter, but I could not settle on a topic for any of them. If I have an idea where I am going to go with a piece of writing I do better; when my mind is flipping through topics and ideas, I can’t stop them from bouncing around so I can sleep. My mind tosses around ideas one after another like a series of movie previews in the theater. One idea after another pops around, nothing solid, nothing finished, just scenes one right after another.

The next night I slept better because I got some lines down on paper during the day, but then this weekend has been one problem after another. Nothing tragic, just a wrong step here and there. This afternoon I decided to join friends at Sonic. For years, The Fearsome Four of us have gone every Sunday for a Sonic drink about 3 in the afternoon. Since the day was already a maze of wrong maneuvers…muffins to be made but flaxseed missing, a cake that did not cook correctly and leaving globs of chocolate under the cooling rack, Adobo spice that was too hot in the meat, a cell phone that would not work right, a printer that would not print, etc… Since sleep doesn’t come easily anyway and the day was a jumble, what was a little caffeine added to the mess?

Well, after sharing our woes and worries my friend’s car would not start. A clunk sound was the only response coming from under the hood. Great. Add that to the day. One man was on the creek, another was miles out at the farm, and another was doing who knows what. Cell phones jangled and soon all three men drove up at the same time. It took them all to ponder the situation. One had jumpers, one had necessary metric tool, one had sound advice. The car started long enough to get home where my friends will consider a new battery.

This weekend is winding down now and tomorrow is a new day. I need to fix a nice supper, plan for tomorrow’s list, pay a few bills, and try not to think of writing. However, there still is that contest…darn, what can I write for it? Well Scarlett dear, just deal with it tomorrow!